Why I Use a Travel Agent

I am a new travel agent to Anywhere But Here Travel but I am not new to using a travel agent. I have been a loyal client of theirs for several years before I started to work here. I thought before I go into my stories of booking travel, I would tell you my story of why I started using Anywhere But Here Travel in the first place.

I have always been internet savvy and have been handing my own travel reservations for many years. Most of it has been fairly straightforward and I didn’t think I would have a need for a travel agent. I was using a certain online booking site almost exclusively and was pretty happy with it … until one day when I purchased airline tickets to my company’s convention in Chicago. Unfortunately for me, my company closed down abruptly the month before I was due to leave. I was left high and dry with plane tickets that I no longer had a use for. Well, I quickly found out that the only way to deal with canceling my tickets was a phone call to that online travel company. After sitting on hold for ONE HOUR, they gave me credit back to use on the same airline at a future date.

A few months later, I used my travel credit for a trip to Las Vegas but it was a less than ideal situation. I tried to use ABHT but since they were not my original booking agent, they were not able to help me out. That meant another ONE HOUR phone call to the online booking website. While I successfully got a new flight to Las Vegas, this airline didn’t have any direct flights so I had to go to SEA > LAX > LAS. I also learned on this trip that LAX is not my favorite airport and in the future I try to avoid it if at all possible. It also doubled my travel time for this trip that should have been very quick.

But wait, there is more! I wasn’t able to use up all my credit with the airline so that meant another ONE HOUR call to the online booking site. Thankfully, this was the last time I had to do this and it made me appreciate what a travel agent can do for me. Instead of sitting on hold for 3 hours to use my credit, I could have had someone else do that for me. It would have been well worth whatever minimal fee they might have charged me. I also decided to never skimp on travel insurance again because it would have saved me the $150 change fee for having to cancel my flight.

~Monica Hubinette~